introspection Archives - Christian Lautenschleger

Running WIR — February 13-19: Escalante and Feelin’ Good

February 19th, 2017christian0 Comments

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Although I’d say I’m a week or two from running to full strength, I’d definitely getting closer to feeling like myself. I ended up running everyday, with runs more ambitious than I ever would have imagined a few, short weeks ago. Most of the pain from my strain and time off has subsided. I feel like I’ll be near November-fitness come time for the Eisenhower Marathon in April. (Most of these are copy-and-pastes “dailies”, which means they were fresh in my mind when I typed them.) Monday — off work early, too nice to not run! Not-a-fun 4. I originally …

Is anyone an expert? Do we use that term too liberally?

February 2nd, 2017christian0 Comments

“[An expert is] having, involving, or displaying special skill or knowledge derived from training or experience.” -Expert definition, courtesy of Webster. Who is an expert? Is anyone an expert? The more we learn about something, the more we learn we don’t know. Everything is a lifelong lesson, we can take crash courses and become obsessed with voracious energy, but at what point do we become an expert? Or do we ever really reach that status. The media loves to label people as “experts”, probably because they need to call them something, the lazy way out. An expert generally is someone …

The Injured Runner’s Paradox

February 1st, 2017christian0 Comments

Saying the word “paradox” makes everything sound more intellectual than it really is. The injured runner’s paradox simply states – this I totally made up today – that runners become injured by running, and want to get back to what caused their injury, running, as soon as possible. Only the NFL has a higher rate of injury than running (100% injury rate for the NFL; and I also made up “only the NFL”). Running’s a feeling that everyone receives differently. Some people do it to lose weight. Some people do it for fitness. Some people do it to accomplish something. …

My principle: going for experiences

January 30th, 2017christian0 Comments

Think back five years. Now ten years. Now longer. What do you remember? My guess is we probably remember experiences. We remember events with family, with friends. We remember trips, holidays, get-a-ways. We probably don’t remember the mundane, “I can’t have have such-and-such” that we did in lieu . Chances are, if there’s a doubt, we should take the plunge and go for the experience. This will be a part of my “principles to live by” post. I’m elaborating on the principles I find important. Another way to think about experiences are to equate them with “memories”. A memory is …

Teachers teach because they can’t?

January 27th, 2017christian0 Comments

Teachers teach, because they can’t. Right? Or maybe teachers teach because they want to help others and share their experience and knowledge? I had something pop into my mind: maybe teachers can do, but want to help other humans because teaching fits their personality. Recently, I read Give and Take — which is a phenomenal book I highly recommend — and learned in depth about “givers” and “takers”. It’s one of those epiphanies that we kind of already knew about, but all the dots are connected when someone spells it out for us. Some people have the “givers” personality. Givers …

Communities around us and how they shape us

January 24th, 2017christian0 Comments

We’re humans. We’re social creatures. Many people want to act like we’re independent without needing people. Who we spend time with matters as much about ourselves as anyone. We are the sum of those around us. Our personalities, attitudes, and moods stem the people with whom we spend the most time. Choose your communities wisely. Work People often have two times of jobs: vocations or bill-payers. People who’ve had a greater calling, or “dream” job, will usually work with people who share much closer interests. That’s why they’re there. People who have bill-payer jobs often act like drones and work …

Put yourself out there, for good things the happen

January 20th, 2017christian0 Comments

They say good things happen when you put the ball into play. Watching the ball whiz by our bodies only leads to a ball or strike. But, from swinging the bat we see many possibilities. We can get a hit, a sacrifice fly, or reach base on a fielding error. Anything can happen. We take action into our own hands, away from the decision of the umpire. In life, good things happen when we put ourselves out there, meeting with, and talking to people. We have to leave the confinement of our own homes. In theory, we never have to …

Tendinitis: Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face

January 2nd, 2017christian0 Comments

My seemingly never-ending tendinitis saga created another setback. If you recall, I previously posted about missing running. It’s turned from out a few weeks to hopefully only a month more before I can go. Ugh, soft tissue injuries. The ones that we’re not sure if we’ll be out a few days or nagging us for months. Recovery runs are those that actually help us when our muscles are sore after hard runs or races. We really don’t have anything for tendinitis. Rest and recovery are generally what the doctor orders for tendinitis (I haven’t seen one; but have done lots …

2016 Running Year in Review

December 29th, 2016christian1 Comment

2016 philadelphia marathon christian lautenschleger

It’s time for the 2016 Running Year in Review, already. Man, this year flew by. It seems like just yesterday that we rung in the New Year. I started the running year with some ultras, a marathon, I thought about triathlons (because why not?), and then back to running. Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. I made some modifications. I had some long, unplanned breaks. But at the end, I learned a lot. Altra Ambassador Early in December I learned I became an Altra Ambassador. I honestly didn’t think I’d get it. I …

Running Week in Review: What we can’t do, we appreciate more

December 18th, 2016christian0 Comments

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When we can’t do something, we start to appreciate it more. That quintessentially describes my last month of running. After the Philadelphia Marathon – the Sunday before Thanksgiving – I took a week off for recovery. Then, I got right back at it. I got new shoes. I sustained, what’s believed to be, Achilles tendinitis. I can nearly guarantee that the injury stemmed from tying my new shoes too tightly (it’s one of those injuries that comes from not knowing what the pain is, trying to run through it until it’s too late and becomes an actual problem; and that …